The members of Environment Society will go around collecting food that has expired shelf-life dates but that is perfectly fine to eat from local retailers. The picnic will show how much perfectly fine food is being wasted, the society says.

After this feast, students are invited to head towards Pavillion Bar for the launch of a Paper Waste Campaign to eliminate wasteful use of paper around campus.

The campaign is inspired by the success of last year’s TCD Plastic Solution Campaign to clear Trinity of single-use plastics, such as cutlery, coffee cups and water bottles.

In only one year, the campaign led to the complete ban all single-use plastic straws on campus and it is now pushing for all single-use non-compostable plastic cups to be banned.

Keep Cup Photo: penguincakes

The university has promised to completely get rid of all single-use plastic items from its ground by 2020, as well as introducing compostable plastics, compost bins and water fountains.

A Rise Up For Climate Action conference will also be held on Saturday, 8 September in a friendly and relaxing World Cafe atmosphere with three guest speakers.

Isabel Jorgensen, the chair of TCD’s Environment Society told The Green News, that the society aims to promote environmental awareness through a variety of events all year long.

Some other universities around the country found different ways to educate their fresher’s about the environmental awareness.

University College Cork (UCC) staff are aware that coffee is crucial to maintaining the active lifestyle of students and has committed to giving away 4,500 reusable coffee cups to all fresher’s.

Coffee retailers around campus have also joined the initiative and will give discounts to customers using the reusable coffee cup.

About the Author

Laura Matjusaityte

Laura is a first-year journalism student at DIT. She has an interest in the environment, veganism and literature.